Thursday 16 February 2023

The Drummer Boy of Wattignies


"You are too small," said the sergeant to little Stroh, who had just enlisted under his country's colours.

The lad gave him the memorable reply:  "I will grow up fighting".


 According to legend "Tambour Stroh" or "Sthrau" was a young hero of the war on the Belgian frontier, killed at Dourlers on 15th October 1793 on the day preceding the French victory at Wattignies.  He is remembered today chiefly through two monuments by the 19th-century sculptor Léon Fagel,  a relief on the Wattignies monument in Maubeuge (1893) and a sculpture erected in the commune of Avesnes-sur-Helpe in 1905.

"Le Petit Tambour De Wattignies" illustration by Onfray de Bréville ("JOB") for Jean Richepin's book of patriotic poems for children Allons, enfants de la patrie (1920) 
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9734542n/f65.item 

For over half a century story of the "Tambour Stroh"  was the preserve of local folklore and soldiers' tales.  His existence rested on little more than an incoherent oral tradition and a half-remembered name.   He was mentioned in print for the first time only in 1850, in a local history by Zéphir Píerart,  to be followed, briefly but influentially, in 1853 by Michelet in volume 13 of  his history of the Revolution. Despite the lack of information, under the Third Republic his patriotic exploits passed into children's books: Étienne Charavay felt confident enough to include him with Bara and Viala in his Enfants de la République in 1882; and in 1888 the novelist Sixte Delorme produced a fictionalised account for young readers - quite a best seller if the number of copies available on ebay is anything to go by.

 In the 1890s  a concerted research effort was made in preparation for the inauguration of the memorial at Avesnes, which took place with considerable pomp in 1905 in the presence of the War Minister Bertaux.  A coherent narrative was pieced together for the occasion but in reality the exploits of "the Tambour Stroh" remained (and still remain) very uncertain. 


What we know about the Tambour Stroh

The context can be briefly related.  At Carnot's insistance, on the morning of 15th October 1793, the day before the victory at Wattignies, the Republican general Jourdan ordered an ill-judged attack on the the commune of Dourlers, in the middle of the Austrian line. The offensive involved 16,000 men of the 89th Regiment of foot under the command of General Balland. There was  considerable carnage on both sides over several hours.  At some time in mid-morning the Austrians seem to have panicked and retreated. French troops rashly pursued them well behind enemy lines, only to find themselves under intense fire from a concealed battery and obliged to retreat in disarray back through Dourlers.  The Austrians thus carried the day.


Where exactly the Tambour Stroh fitted in was never made entirely clear.   

 In  Michelet's version, which follows a brief reference by Piérart, an unnamed drummer boy had sounded the attack on the church square in Dourlers and "unnerved" the Austrians.  It was not specified at what point this episode took place, nor whether, as was later assumed,  the boy was to be credited with a deliberate (and daring) ruse.

A second component, based on  local tradition, was the eyewitness account of a local barber who claimed to have seen the drummer boy meet his death in combat with a group of Hungarian grenadiers.  The only formal record of this testimony was given secondhand by his son-in-law in 1893, a full century after events.  All that could be established with any degree of certainty was that a child or youth had been killed by the enemy in an alley near the church at some time course of the French retreat.

In 1837 a group of skeletons was uncovered, which were taken to be Stroh and his adversaries.  According to Piérart, at  least three of the individuals were Austrian soldiers.  This was impossible to verify, though, as Sixte Delorme pointed out, soldiers could readily be identified from buttons, belt buckles and the like. Perhaps the Tambour's opponents only became "Hungarian grenadiers" at this stage.  The bones were subsequently reburied and lost without trace underneath a school playground.
 

Identities?

Apart from the name Strou (or "Sthrau" - both are recorded), almost nothing came down in the way of personal details.  No Christian name was ever given.  The boy was said to have been born in Alsace and to have joined  the 89th Regiment, formerly the Royal-Suède Regiment, with his brothers in 1792.  According to Piérart, the barber from Dourlers had actually talked to these brothers.  But no-one knew  how he had identified the boy in the first place; perhaps, Sixtus Delorme suggested a little weakly, he had read Carnot's Défenseur or talked to the soldiers? 

Inquiries in 1893 failed to trace a likely candidate in Alsace - this was not really surprising: French army drummers were generically Alsatian.  However, in 1905 a well-informed letter to the editors of a local paper identified three brothers Stroh in the 89th Regiment, all of them drummers; sadly,  the youngest, Julien, would have been 28 years old in 1793 and was a respectable 1.73m/5ft 9in tall.  The committee in charge of the memorial understandably chose to ignore this revelation. (See Readings)

In all probability, two different individuals - the adult Tambour Stroh and the boy killed in Dourlers - have become conflated. (Today Wikipedia and other websites sidestep the issue by repeating the story of the juvenile hero but also stating that he was 28-years old and called Julien.)

.....Fortunately, no name appears on the statue in Avesnes, which was restored and safely reerected on its plinth in 2013:

 
References

"Tambour Stroh" on Wikipédia.fr

"La légende du tambour Stroh" on the blog Wattignies 1793

Madeleine-Anna Charmelot, "Joseph Strauh et Jacques Amand, jeunes héros révolutionnaires oubliés"  Annales historiques de la Revolution française, 1985, No.262: p.538-542.

"Monument au tambour Stroh" on e-monumen.net



Readings

Early  written accounts: 

Zéphir Piérart, 1850/51
The first  published references to the Tambour appeared in works of the prominent local historian, and later spiritualist,  Zéphir Píerart in 1850 and 1851. 
At the height of the action,  a young drummer of the grenadiers of the Royal-Suède Regiment aged fourteen, named Sthrau, advanced unnoticed by a covered path. He went to beat the charge close to the Austrian battalions in the centre of the village who believed themselves surprised and suddenly took flight in terror.
Note: This young drummer, who was the first to attack, was the last to flee.  At the moment he fled, he was surrounded  near the church, by some Hungarian grenadiers.  He defended himself heroically against them, killing several, but was finally overwhelmed by weight of numbers.  A resident of the village, named Brasseur, who was hiding in his attic, was an eye-witness to the combat.  Later, in the Armée d'Allemagne, he met  Sthrau's brothers who, although they knew that he had been killed on 15th October, did not know the heroic circumstances and heard them recounted with great emotion.
Zéphyr-Joseph  Piérart, Recherches historiques sur Maubeuge, son canton et les communes limitrophes (1850)

An alleyway between the cemetery and the neighbouring farm, which led across the fields to the plain occupied by the French, was a scene of particular carnage.  In their haste the retreating troops crowded into this alley to the point that nobody could move. The Austrians fell upon their rear and killed  several of them. 
It was in these circumstances that a young drummer of the grenadiers of the Royal-Suède Regiment, aged fifteen, named Sthrau perished. ....  He was buried at the end of the cemetery and, in 1837, his skeleton was rediscovered along with seven others, three of which were recognised as the Austrian soldiers that he had killed.....  
 Zéphyr-Joseph  Piérart, Notice historique sur les communes de Floursies, Semousies, Saint-Aubin et Dourlers (1850) p.51-52.
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6526181m/f59

Michelet's version of events, 1853
Michelet gives a slightly confused account of the drummer boy's ruse (probably based on Piérart?)
Carnot gave the signal for attack,  first on the flanks and then at the centre.
For four hours, our troops in the centre, climbing towards Dourlers,  fought with their bayonets, led by Jourdan in person. At the first encounter, the whole body of the enemy went into retreat.  Our men arrived breathless at the foot of the slopes, only to find themselves facing the cannon and met by a hail of bullets. Some continued to advance; a drummer of fifteen years found his way through and took up position in the village of Dourlers, on the church square, where he beat the charge behind the Austrians; their battalions lost their nerve and started to disperse. 
In 1837 they discovered there the bones of the young boy between seven Hungarian grenadiers.
At the point when our men, under the torrent of gunfire, hesitated and drifted, the Austrian cavalry arrived on our flank and the infantry which had given way fell back on us.  We were forced to give way.......Nightfall brought an end to this terrible execution.
Histoire de la Révolution française ,Book 13, chapter 8.  First published in 1853


An Army tradition?

The writer Sixte Delorme recalled  that in 1888 he was persuaded by his editor to go the Elysée Palace to present a copy of his novel Le tambour de Wattignies to President Sadi Carnot (Lazare Carnot's grandson).  The president received him cordially and encouraged him to talk about his sources.  It turned out that Carnot was already very familiar with the tale of  Tambour Stroh: 
...My father told me many times the story of this child's heroic death.  It was one of those sublime examples,  accounts of which my grandfather had distributed in barracks and army camps in order to inspire patriotic heights. What an impression it must have produced when it was recounted by eye-witnesses at the bar of the Convention!
When a surprised Delorme observed that he had found no record in the Moniteur, the president retracted slightly, and suggested that he might look instead in the leaves of Carnot's Défenseur de la Patrie.
Notice in Le Journal des Fourmies for 16th December 1900.


Local memories:

The eyewitness mentioned by Zéphir Piérart is identified as Pierre-Joseph Brasseur, a barber in Dourlers.  In 1893 the man's son-in-law Constant Caille, then aged 71, was persuaded to make a formal deposition concerning the tales he had been told by his wife's father.  The document was countersigned by several witnesses and certified by the deputy mayor.  This account is more or less identical to that of Piérart:

 "An alley situated between the cemetery and a neighbouring farm led out towards the plain occupied the French and had already been traversed by the troops several times.  At a certain point it became so crowded by French soldiers that the enemy were able to kill a certain number.  It was in these circumstances that there perished a young drummer of the Royal-Suèdois grenadiers.  He refused to sound the retreat but continued to march through the alley furiously beating the charge.  He was soon noticed by the enemy.  He was surrounded by several Hungarian grenadiers who demanded his surrender.  The young drummer boy refused emphatically and attacked his enemies, killing several before he was overwhelmed and killed.  He was buried with those that he had killed and with the Hungarian grenadiers shot by French soldiers who rushed to the poor child's aid.

In 1837 the skeleton of the little drummer boy was recovered alongside seven other larger ones.  The discovery was made by M. Pierre Deresmes, who was digging foundations for an extension to his property.  The remains were immediately buried by the said Deresmes in the nearby communal cemetery.  This part of the cemetery has now been converted into a playground for the boys' school."
Text reproduced in L'Intermédiaire des chercheurs et curieux, Vol. 51 (1905) 20th February 1905
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k73409b/f128.item

See also, the comments of Sixtus Delorme:
It is public knowledge in these parts that in 1838 the skeleton of the drummer boy was found with seven other, much larger skeletons.  This discovery was made by M. Pierre Deresme, who must have been able to identify from many indications - uniform buttons, badges,  buckles - the nationality of the child and of the soldiers, who were Hungarian grenadiers.

Delorme wanted to make it clear that Stroh did not kill seven men single-handedly:
It is public knowledge at Dourlers that the barber Brasseur was very willingly tell to his clients the story of the heroic death of Stroh...According to [his] account,  based on unbroken tradition, in order to defend his life he snatched a gun from the hands of one of his giant adversaries and fought for a long time, with admirable energy, calling for help to the brave soldiers of the 89th Regiment.  His comrades could not save him, but they avenged him.
Sixte Delorme in Le Journal des Fourmies for 16th December 1900

It might be noted that according to Zéphir Piérart only three enemy soldiers were identified; the other four were perhaps Frenchmen, who were presumed to have come to the drummer boy's aid.


Contested identities

The following letter, dated 26th June 1893, was sent from the mayor of La Wantzenau, near
Strassbourg:

After some long and difficult research, I can share with you the following:
Philippe Stroh and his wife Catherine Ohlmann had four children:
1. Philippe, born 6/12 1774; 2. Antoine, born 8/4 1777; 3. André, born 17/1 1779; 4. Joseph, born 15/1 1781.
Philippe and Antoine Stroh seem to have served with the Army of the Rhine; André was probably the drummer in question;  Joseph was mayor of our commune for several years.  A  descendant of this family,  Jean Stroh, ironsmith, lives in La Wantzenau.
I asked him for details of the four individuals but he could  not provide me with any precise information.  However, from their birth dates they may be the men in question.
L'Intermédiaire des chercheurs et curieux, Vol. 51 (1905) 20th February 1905

The modern online database of the Féderation des Sociétés d'histoire et d'archéologie d'Alsace has the following entry:  Stroh (Strauh) Joseph: "The only Stroh born in La Wantzenau in 1779 (17th January) had the first name André and was the son of  Philippe Stroh, locksmith and Marie Catherine Ohlmann.  His younger brother Joseph (born 15th January 1781) seems too young to be our hero.  There is no other Joseph Stroh born in La Wantzenau at the end of the 18th century."


In January 1905 an anonymous letter was sent to the newspaper l'Éclair which had announced plans for the monument at Avesnes.  Understandably, there was a reluctance to accept the writer's conclusions. 

Monsieur le directeur,

I read that a committee is to be formed to erect a monument to Stroh, the drummer of Wattignies, and I want to gain its attention.  In view of the article in L'Éclair this morning, it has become necessary to clip the wings of the legend.
There were three Stroh brothers serving in 1793 in the 89th Infantry Regiment (formally the Royal-Suédois):  Joseph born in 1750 in Dunkirk; Adam born "au corps" in Buding in 1760; Julien born "au corps" in Landau in 1765.  All three, "enfants du corps", were drummers, but Joseph was sergeant of the 162th demi-brigade in 1794.  Adam was drum-corporal in 1788, then became drum-major; he retired in 1805 and died in 1824.  Therefore there remains only Julien, who disappears in 1793.
Julien who was taller than his brothers, measured 1 metre 73 [5ft 7ins]. Thus he was not small in height. But he was  little in that he was the last born and very much younger; thus he might have been called "le petit" to distinguish him from his brothers
Therefore,  the little drummer boy of Wattignies, if he is Stroh of the 89th, was 28 years old and 1 metre 73 in height!
Age and height do not detract from the merit of a glorious death and service given, and it is precisely to respect his memory that we oppose the commemoration of a man in the guise of a child.
If there was a drummer boy who distinguished himself at Dourlers - and this seems likely since there were many at this time - then this drummer boy was not called Stroh.  Conversely, if the action can be attributed to the Tambour Stroh, then he was not a child.
To erect a monument to a anonymous drummer of Wattignies is fine; but to add the name of Stroh is to commit an error. It shows the danger of accepting local legends uncritically, and without the support of contemporary documents. 
Published in: L'Intermédaire des chercheurs et curieux, Vol. 51 30 January 1905.  
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k73409b/f70.item

Note that the brothers Stroh are described as "enfants du corps".  After 1766, a limited number of sons of soldiers or women servants were officially recognised and paid a small wage. They remained with the regiment until they were of an age to engage. This explains why the brothers were born in different places and all trained as drummers, as was no doubt common practice among young boys in this position. 


The synthesis of 1905

Speech given by Alfred Jennepin, local schoolteacher and President of the subscription committee, at the inauguration of the monument in Avesnes-sur-Helpe on 3rd September 1905.

Little is known about the origins of the young Stroh; we only know that he came from Alsace and that in 1792 he joined the army with his brothers as a volunteer.

He served as a drummer boy in the former Régiment de Royal Suédois, now the 89th Regiment of the line; at the time he was fourteen or fifteen years old. 

The combat at Dourlers, which took place on 15th October 1793 was one of the bitterest engagements of the Revolutionary wars.

After a murderous struggle which lasted several hours, our soldiers forces found themselves masters of the enemy positions.  The Austrians retreated slowly, contesting the terrain inch by inch.  But suddenly, they heard, on their left flank, a drum roll beating the charge. They were in no doubt that the Republicans had taken the village and were about to attack their rear. In panic, they hurriedly abandoned their positions, closely pursued by the French.

In reality, these powerful reinforcements which had so alarmed the Austrians were only one child of fifteen, the Drummer Boy Stroh, who had sneaked into a side road and was beating his drum furiously.  

Rather than wait for the main army, the 89th imprudently rushed after the enemy.  They came down from the high ground, crossed the valley of the river Bracquière and only came to a breathless halt at the foot of the opposite slope.

 The French were so carried away by their triumph that they forgot that they were now behind enemy lines. Only a hundred feet away, a battery which they had not noticed, began to spew out grapeshot.  Entire ranks were cut down, whilst a cloud of cavalry fell on them from both sides and butchered them before they had the chance to use their guns.

Faced with this murderous and unexpected attack, the men at the head of the column did a volte-face, pushing the rest of the army in front of them in disorder back towards Dourlers.  

The Little Drummer Boy, left on his own, remained in position; he refused to beat a retreat and continued to sound the charge.  Then he turned his back on his comrades and strode  towards the main square of the village.  A few latecomers wanted to take the child with them and stopped next to him for a instant; this moment of hesitation cost them their lives.

A group of Hungarian grenadiers noticed the little hero and cried out to him to surrender.  The child defended himself desperately;  he threw away his drum, snatched a gun from the hands of one of the grenadiers and shot him.  But he was overwhelmed by weight of numbers and fell gloriously.

The memory of the Little Drummer Boy has remained alive among the residents of Dourlers;  the tale of his glorious death has often enlivened winter evenings. The young people who listen are filled with admiration for the youthful hero, and promise themselves that they will imitate him later should the occasion arise.
Reproduced in "Le petit tambour de Wattignes", Revue pédagogique (1905, Vol.47(2): p.292-6. (full text on  "Perséide Éducation")

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